Re: Chinese adpositions (was: Re: inalienable pos

Kou wrote :

Nik Taylor wrote:
>
> > But aren't some of those "verbs" *only* used as adpositions?  I suppose
> > that at times it is rather iffy as to whether a word is adpositional or
> > nominal/verbal.
>
> To be sure. The only borderline case I can think of at the moment is
> "yu2". None of the Chinese-Chinese dictionaries I have right at hand
> mark parts of speech (often a wise move), but the definition of "yu" is
> given as functioning like "zai", like "xiang", like "cong", like "dao",
> like "dui", like "gei" -- all of which, according to my mini-rant, are
> verbs...
>
> Just ran a *very* scientific study of two native speakers who both
> allow:
>
> Wo yu Shanghai.     and   Shu yu zhuozi shang.
> I'm in Shanghai.          The books are on the table.
>
> as a complete, if slightly pedantic, sentences.
>
> Verb? Preposition with stative verb properties? Your call.
>
> Counterexamples welcome, and if I remember, I'll have a look at what the
> Li & Thompson says about this tonight.
>
I don't speak one Chinese word. I only know kobun and modern Sino-Japanese
vocabulary and I'm REALLY interested in that issue. Could you develop please ?
Arigatai koto de arimasu ga ;-)

Mathias


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